Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with AMD Ryzen 9 7900X + AMD Radeon RX 6600

This combination lands in the 2901st position out of 3714 tested combos for Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the lower half of the field. The pairing of a high-end 12-core CPU with a mid-range GPU produces a system that is clearly GPU-bound in this FPS title, with the measured frame rates showing a consistent pattern where the RX 6600 becomes the limiting factor as resolution and settings climb.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2901st out of 3714 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol, which translates to roughly the 22nd percentile of all tested systems. This is a modest result that reflects the GPU's position in the market rather than the CPU's capabilities. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X sits at the 91st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53,288. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7313P (0.2% higher score), the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (0.3% lower), the Intel Xeon 634 (0.6% higher), and the Intel Core i7-14700F (0.6% lower). These deltas are all sub-1%, indicating the CPU is performing exactly as expected for its class.

Meanwhile, the AMD Radeon RX 6600 sits at the 63rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19,036. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 (0% delta), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile (0.1% lower), the NVIDIA Tesla K20m (0.3% lower), and the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation (0.4% higher). The GPU's percentile ranking is substantially lower than the CPU's, and this mismatch explains the combo's overall position — the system is held back by the graphics card in a game that scales heavily with GPU throughput.

The rank gap becomes clearer when examining the CPU's multithreaded strength: the 7900X scores 29,300 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 19,267 in Geekbench multicore. These are top-tier numbers that would not bottleneck any modern GPU. The RX 6600, however, delivers 8.928 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 159.4 GPixel/s pixel rate, which are modest figures for 2024-era FPS gaming. The data suggests that upgrading the GPU while keeping the CPU would yield a dramatically better combo ranking, as the CPU has substantial headroom in every measured workload.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), while the GPU core has a base clock of 1626 MHz, a game clock of 2044 MHz, and a boost clock of 2491 MHz. These clocks are respectable for the RDNA 2.0 architecture, but the 8 GB frame buffer and 128-bit interface become limiting factors at higher resolutions and quality presets.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's memory configuration directly impacts performance at 4K. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo averages 32 FPS, while dropping to High settings yields 43 FPS, Medium produces 49 FPS, and Low reaches 69 FPS. The 37 FPS spread between Ultra and Low at 4K indicates that the GPU's compute units (1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, 64 ROPs) are being stretched, but the memory bandwidth also plays a role — 224.0 GB/s is modest for 4K rendering.

The GPU's 28 ray tracing cores are present but do not appear to provide meaningful acceleration in this title, as the measured FPS drops sharply when moving from Medium to Ultra at any resolution. The 7 nm process node and 11,060 million transistors give the RX 6600 a 237 mm² die size, and its 132 W TDP means it runs cool enough for a dual-slot design with a single 8-pin power connector. The PCIe 4.0 x8 interface is sufficient for this workload, and the GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support ensures full feature compatibility with Lockdown Protocol's rendering pipeline.

FAQ

Q: Why does this combo rank so low despite having a high-end CPU?

A: The combo ranks 2901st of 3714 because the RX 6600 sits at only the 63rd GPU percentile, while the Ryzen 9 7900X sits at the 91st CPU percentile. The GPU becomes the bottleneck in Lockdown Protocol, particularly at higher resolutions where the 8 GB frame buffer and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth limit performance.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 delivers the most playable experience, with Low settings averaging 146 FPS, High averaging 90 FPS, and Medium averaging 103 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low settings (107 FPS) exceed 100 FPS, while 3840x2160 never reaches above 69 FPS even on Low.

Q: How does the RX 6600 compare to its closest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 6600's average benchmark score of 19,036 is essentially identical to the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 (19,030, 0% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile (19,049, 0.1% lower). The NVIDIA Tesla K20m scores 19,089 (0.3% lower), and the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation scores 18,954 (0.4% higher). All deltas are under 0.5%.

Q: Is the CPU holding back the GPU in this game?

A: No. The Ryzen 9 7900X scores 29,300 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 4,820.5 in Cinebench R15 multicore, placing it at the 91st CPU percentile. Its nearest rivals all score within 0.6% of its average benchmark score of 53,288, indicating the CPU is performing at expected levels and not limiting frame rates.

Q: What settings preset gives the highest FPS at 1080p?

A: Low settings produce the highest average FPS at 1920x1080 with 146 FPS, followed by Medium at 103 FPS, High at 90 FPS, and Ultra at 68 FPS. The Medium preset also provides a minimum FPS of 88 and maximum of 119, showing better frame pacing than the higher presets.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo averages 32 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Even at Medium settings, the average is 49 FPS with a minimum of 42 FPS, indicating the GPU struggles with 4K rendering in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce an average of 146 FPS, Medium settings average 103 FPS with a minimum of 88 and maximum of 119, High settings average 90 FPS, and Ultra settings average 68 FPS. The 78 FPS gap between Low and Ultra demonstrates the GPU's sensitivity to quality presets, with the frame rate dropping by more than half when maxing out settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down predictably. Low settings average 107 FPS, Medium averages 76 FPS with a range of 64 to 87, High averages 66 FPS, and Ultra averages 50 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings is 39 FPS (from 146 to 107), representing a 26.7% reduction. At High settings, the drop is 24 FPS (from 90 to 66), a 26.7% reduction, showing a consistent scaling factor across presets.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to struggle. Low settings average 69 FPS, Medium averages 49 FPS with a minimum of 42 and maximum of 56, High averages 43 FPS, and Ultra averages 32 FPS. The 4K Medium preset shows the tightest frame range of any measured configuration, with just 14 FPS separating minimum from maximum, indicating stable frame pacing even under heavy load. The 4K Ultra result of 32 FPS is the lowest measured average across the entire test matrix.

The complete data set shows 12 measured configurations: four presets at each of three resolutions. The Medium preset is the only one with min/max FPS recorded at every resolution, providing the most complete picture of frame variability. At 1080p Medium, the 31 FPS spread between 88 minimum and 119 maximum shows noticeable variance, while at 1440p Medium the spread narrows to 23 FPS, and at 4K Medium it narrows further to 14 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a GPU-bound system with predictable degradation. At Low settings, average FPS drops from 146 at 1080p to 107 at 1440p and 69 at 4K — a cumulative 52.7% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the progression is 90 to 66 to 43 FPS, a 52.2% total reduction. At Medium settings, the numbers are 103, 76, and 49 FPS, representing a 52.4% drop. Ultra settings show 68, 50, and 32 FPS, a 52.9% reduction.

The consistency of these percentages — all falling between 52.2% and 52.9% — indicates that resolution scaling affects all presets equally, which is characteristic of a GPU bottleneck. The pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, but the frame rate does not quarter because the CPU and memory subsystem provide some headroom at lower resolutions. The fact that the percentage drop is nearly identical across presets suggests the RX 6600's memory bandwidth (224.0 GB/s) and compute capacity (8.928 TFLOPS) are being utilized uniformly regardless of quality settings.

The limiting component is clearly the GPU. The Ryzen 9 7900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads running at a base clock of 4.70 GHz and boost of 5.60 GHz, has ample processing power to feed the RX 6600 at any resolution. The CPU's 64 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth provide more than enough throughput for Lockdown Protocol's workloads. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see frame rates plateau at 1080p, but instead they continue to rise as resolution decreases, confirming the GPU as the primary constraint.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data supports specific settings choices depending on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset (103 FPS average, 88 minimum) offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, as it stays well above 60 FPS even at its lowest recorded frame rate. High settings (90 FPS) are also viable for players who prefer better visuals, while Ultra (68 FPS) remains playable but leaves little margin for demanding scenes. Low settings (146 FPS) are excessive for most displays but useful for competitive play.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset (76 FPS average, 64 minimum) is the recommended choice, as it maintains a minimum above 60 FPS with acceptable visual quality. High settings (66 FPS) are borderline, with the average close to the 60 FPS threshold, while Ultra (50 FPS) drops below playable smoothness for most users. Low settings (107 FPS) provide a competitive advantage but sacrifice too much visual fidelity for a mid-range GPU.

At 3840x2160, the data shows that only Low settings (69 FPS) achieve a playable average, while Medium (49 FPS) and High (43 FPS) fall short, and Ultra (32 FPS) is not recommended for serious gameplay. For 4K users, the choice is between accepting Low settings for 60+ FPS performance or reducing the resolution to 1440p to unlock Medium or High presets. The 4K Medium preset's narrow frame range (42 minimum to 56 maximum) indicates stable performance, but the average of 49 FPS is below the threshold for smooth FPS gameplay.

The overall recommendation is to run Lockdown Protocol at 1080p Medium or 1440p Medium, depending on display capability. The 7900X's CPU headroom means that future GPU upgrades would directly translate to higher frame rates in this title, as the measured bottleneck is entirely on the graphics side. For players with 144Hz displays, the 1080p Low preset (146 FPS) is the only configuration that fully utilizes such refresh rates, while 60Hz displays are well-served by any of the Medium or High presets at 1080p or 1440p.